Easy Money For Those Who Are Left For Dead
by WAZeigler
Summary: A few days after the blood heist at Mercy Hospital, the Payday gang find themselves fighting for their lives in an apocalypse of thier own creation. With Bain gone and their only help being four other survivors, will they make it to safety? (Warning: Intense language, but since that was it I decided to keep it as a T rating. Let me know If I should change it to M.)
1. Spilled Blood

_Easy Money for those who are Left for Dead_

_A Payday and Left 4 Dead Crossover_

"Hold on guys, I got to circle a bit. They have jets approaching." Bain said into the ear pieces of the Payday Crew as they took the elevator to the roof of Mercy Hospital after another successful heist. Suddenly there was a loud boom and the whole building shook.

"Whoa! They're hitting the building with missiles! This is nuts! I am sure I saw them hit one of their own guys!" Then there was another boom and the building shook again, and again, and again, until SNAP, the elevator fell 32 floors to the basement. Those last few sentences were the last the Payday Crew heard from Bain. They got out of the elevator, and ran to their safe house.

Back in the safe house the Payday Crew celebrated with good booze and music waiting for Bain to come in and join the party. But Bain never came. The next day they saw the news front page which read, "Civilian massacre at Mercy Hospital!"

"Damn…" Wolf said. "You think Bain made it out? It says here they killed all witnesses."

"He had to." replied Hoxton. "Without him we would have to rely on Dallas to be the brains of this outfit and I would rather not see that train wreck."

"Shut the fuck up Hoxton." Dallas snapped.

"Come on guys." Chains butted in. "I bet he is at his HQ right now and waiting for us to call."

Bain was not at his HQ. In fact he was still in Fairview Pennsylvania in his wrecked helicopter. He was shot down shortly after losing contact with Dallas, Hoxton, Chains, and Wolf. He had been there all night and was nearing the end. The last thing Bain saw was a pale figure, staggering out of the wreck of Mercy Hospital. It looked almost exactly like the photo he was given of the guy he sent they boys after to collect blood from for his client. But that was impossible. That man was supposed to be dying and this man looked more or less alive or like a walking dead man. The man was wearing a tattered hospital gown and had bumps and bruises all over his skin. He was missing an arm and blood was trickling down his chin from his mouth and nose. Nobody was around to notice him, nobody except Bain. But then Bain's vision went black and he died.

The Payday Crew kept pulling off heists after that but never ones as big as they used to. Back then they were doing hits like First World Bank and stealing diamonds form the Garnet Group building. But now they were just robbing gas stations, small stores, and maybe the occasional small bank. It just wasn't the same. They didn't get the same thrill they used to get out of crime.

The biggest blow to the Payday Crew was not making the front page anymore. They used to be the top news story every time they pulled off a heist but now they usually get a small article around the page before the wanted ads. But every Sunday when the newest print came out they would go out to a gas station and get a copy and check.

This week the top story was very different than the usual garbage the passes for a front page worthy story, there was something a little bit more serious. The front page headline read, "Green Flu Outbreak in Fairview PA! Military Called in to Capture Infected!"

"The military huh?" Said Dallas, "I don't get what is so bad about a few people walking around with a runny nose."

"No you idiot!" Hoxton replied, "Remember the guy who we got the blood from back at Mercy Hospital? They said he was showing beginning stages of rabies."

They all continued reading. Each word confirming what they feared. They then realized they set in motion something that night that will end up changing the world forever. Or better yet, open an opportunity to be top of the heist world yet again.


	2. Enter The Quarentine Zone

Dallas, Hoxton, Chains, and Wolf needed to come up with a plan to turn this little outbreak into a big score. Surprisingly enough Dallas came up with the plan this time. On a rather slow news day the Payday Crew walked into the Fairview Police Station with their masks on and unarmed and requested to see the police chief. Since they were not turning themselves in nor were they confessing of a crime they could not be arrested and were taken to see the chief.

"Hey. What's up chief?" Dallas said in a very calm tone.

"Uh…" The chief responded, "What can I do for you gentlemen?"

"We have a proposition for you." Hoxton replied, "As we both know the Fairview Bank is inside the area known now as the quarantine zone with all of the infected of this little bug that has been going around recently. What we say we shall do is that we go in there and get the money out of the bank and in return you call the guys up in the Supreme Court or Guantanamo Bay or whoever wants to lock us up and say we are no longer Tango Primary. Got it?"

"Uh… Sure. If you can get all of the money out of the vault and bring it to me without a single cent missing I can have that arranged." Said the chief and they shook hands and the deal was struck.

The barricades keeping the infected in the quarantine zone were mostly hastily made wooden barricades and tightly parked police and SWAT vehicles. Armed guards paced back and forth along the length of the barricades and greeted the Payday Crew with tentative looks. The head patrol man dressed in heavy SWAT gear approached them.

"You the guys the chief sent?" The Patrol Officer asked.

"Yep." replied Wolf, "You got our equipment?"

"I do." The Patrol Officer said, "We looked at the security footage of the Garnet Building heist and got the same equipment you used then."

The Patrol Officer went to a van and opened up the back of it. Inside were guns, lots of them. AK rifles, Silenced SMGs, side arms of every description, even a Brenner 21 machine gun and a GL-40 grenade launcher. The Payday Crew ran and grabbed all of them and as much ammo as they could carry.

The Patrol Officer then handed Hoxton a ring of keys and an index card with a code on it and said, "Those keys open all of the doors and ATMs in the bank. That code will get you into the vault."

Hoxton then turned to Dallas, Chains and Wolf and said, "Just like First World Bank but easier. Right guys?"

"Yep." They all replied, and with that they guards let the Payday Crew past the barricades and made their way to the bank.

The quarantine zone was not like any of them expected. Instead of lots of buildings with police tape on the doors and wrapped in plastic with warning signs on them they saw a lot of dead people, and a lot of blood. The Payday Crew found it hard to take a step without stepping on some dead body and bloody handprints and smears covered the walls of the buildings. Hoxton crouched down and inspected one of the bodies.

"Damn, whatever killed this guy really wanted to make sure he was dead." Hoxton said.

"Ugh! What the fuck is that stuff oozing from his mouth?" Wolf asked.

"I don't know but it smells like shit." Dallas replied, "Hoxton don't touch it."

They kept going through the seemingly abandoned blocks of Fairview that are now the quarantine zone. One question was nagging at the back of their heads as they walked through the desolate empty streets, and Chains finally asked it.

"Hey guys. If this is a place that got hit with a disease, where are all the sick people?" Chains asked.

"I don't know." Said Wolf, "But I think that huge mob running at us has something to do with it."

There were at least fifty of them. All of them were people, but they all have seen better days. All of them looked like something out of a zombie movie. They were all covered in cuts, scratches, bruises, bite marks; even some of them were missing arms. They stopped at nothing, if they reached an obstacle they climbed over it. If one of them fell over they just trampled that member of the horde. Chains, who won a game of rock paper scissors against Dallas, pulled out the Brenner-21 and opened fire, the hordes of infected no match for the power of the machine gun.

One the people who the Payday Crew assumed were the infected continued down the street. When passing a restaurant Hoxton took his mask off and took in the smells. Aside from the looming smell of death he could definitely make out the smell of food.

"Hey guys." Hoxton said turning towards Dallas, Wolf and Chains, "Lunch break anybody?"

"Hell yeah! Free all you can eat!" Chains shouted happily.

They all went inside looked around to see what the kitchen had. They searched everywhere but only found disgusting stale bread sticks and a few bits of pepperoni that was going to be used for pizzas.

"Damn, nothing in the kitchens. I'll check the pantry." Hoxton said as he made his way to the pantry door.

What Hoxton found in the pantry was not what he expected. It was an infected man, but this one was fat. Fat was more of an understatement, this infected man was morbidly obese. The infected man seemed to have gotten in the pantry and eaten almost everything. It stood on a pair of short stumpy legs and had a massive glutinous belly. It looked at Hoxton with the same look you would get if you caught somebody watching dirty videos, making stomach gurgling noises and not moving. This continued for about thirty seconds and then the fat infected man went back to eating everything in the pantry.

"Hey. Get out of there we want some." Hoxton said but to no use, the fat infected man ignored him.

Then Hoxton got out his Bronco 44 millimeter revolver and said, "Look fatso. You got ten seconds to get out or I pull the trigger." and pointed the gun at the infected man's head.

Ten seconds passed, and the infected man did not leave. Hoxton pulled the trigger and the infected man exploded in a blast of bile and chunks of flesh.


	3. Bank Heist with Zombies

Hoxton fell flat on his back, covered in bile. But before he could get cleaned off a large swarm of infected ran into the restaurant and began filtering into the pantry, licking, punching, and kicking the walls that are now covered in the same substance Hoxton is.

"Wow. Look at them." Wolf said, "Is this shit like cocaine for them or something?"

"I don't know." said Hoxton, "But I would rather not find out what would happen if they realize I am covered in it."

"Yeah." said Dallas, "Like a Hoxton meatball dipped in vomit sauce. Gross shit."

The Payday Crew decided to skip lunch and instead spend some time letting Hoxton get himself cleaned off. A few hours later they were on the road again, the streets near the bank were crowded with infected staggering about. Most of them standing or sitting very still as if meditating.

"Okay guys." Chains whispered, "No loud noises, no sudden movements. Just keep it slow and steady."

"Yeah. Got it." The rest of the group whispered back.

They snuck very quietly into the bank and began opening up the ATMs and putting the money in some duffel bags they brought with them. Four at a time, the ATMs were emptied until all that was left was the vault. They got into the security room and disabled all of the alarms, then snuck around the metal detectors and made their way down the corridor to the vault.

"Well fellas, here it is." Hoxton whispered, "Let me open it up."

With that Hoxton put in the code and the vault doors slowly opened. Inside they saw the money, but also saw what was in there with the money.

The thing was huge, probably nine feet tall with a gorilla like posture and a pair of massive arms as thick as a tree trunk. Its mouth was open but it looked like it did not have ability to close it, its tongue dangling out as it barreled towards the Payday Crew.

"Holy shit!" Wolf yelled as he gave up all stealth and started shooting at the huge monster, "What the fuck is that thing?"

"I don't know but it looks really pissed off!" Hoxton replied.

The payday crew tired their best to kite around the infected monster the best they could in the small space the vault room provided all the while the infected was hurling safes and other heavy objects that no normal human could ever lift let alone throw.

Wolf got all of the money into bags as Dallas, Hoxton, and Chains distracted the Tank as they decided to call it. Once Wolf got all of the money in the bags he started running and shouted for his teammates to follow. Soon they were out of the bank, the Tank still chasing them and their gun fight causing a lot of infected to also be chasing them due to the noise.

"Don't worry guys, I see the barricades!" Chains shouted as he pointed down the street.

"We're gonna make it!" Wolf yelled.

"Don't get cocky now. We still have a few blocks to go." Hoxton said.

The Payday crew cheered as the SWAT greeted them at the barricades, but the head patrol officer did not seem so happy.

"You lead them here?" The head officer shouted, "Here? Do you know what you just did?"

"Uh yeah." Wolf replied, as he dropped a bag of money on the ground, "We did you a fucking favor. Now you don't have to chip a nail going in there yourselves."

From there the head patrol officer and Wolf started to argue but it was cut off by the Tank roaring as it charged its way towards the barricades, leading a horde of infected behind it. The SWAT opened fire, mowing down most of the infected but the Tank kept going.

"Shields forward! Box it in!" The head patrol officer shouted and swiftly eight riot troops with big metal shields started to converge on the Tank. The Payday Crew ran off, leaving the money behind to the sound of roaring and howling from infected, gunfire from the police, and screams of men dying. Little did they know they would regret leaving the cops for dead. Soon wishing they had helped, for days after the infected broke through the barricades and spilled into the rest of the city there was panic, destruction, death, lots of death. This is where our four other heroes come into this story.


	4. Two Forces Meet and Wolf's Demands

Bill, Francis, Zoey, and Louis walked down the desolate empty roads doing various things. Louis was looking at his Rolex watch, the only thing he kept from his old life aside from the clothes on his back. Francis was, as usual, hitting on Zoey, trying to convince her that it is her duty as the last girl on earth to help repopulate. Zoey, was as usual, ignoring Francis, and looking at her father's gun that he gave to her the day the infection first broke loose out of the quarantine zone. Bill was thinking about something that bothered him ever since the outbreak began, even since before the infected got out of the infected zone. Bill was thinking about how he was there, at Mercy Hospital and was just leaving the building as the armed thugs attacked and that he did nothing to help and then all of this happened. How he was in the same elevator with them and he did nothing. Bill could not help but think this disaster was his entire fault.

They have been walking all night. Sleep was no longer a luxury they could afford. Sleeping was something that happened when you got rescued or killed, and they did not want the second option. They have been going in the direction of a military chopper they saw flying overhead for almost a full day, and the effects of exhaustion were settling in.

"Ugh… Bill, even the zombies aren't awake." Francis groaned, "Unless we are also worried about vampires I can say without a doubt that we can rest safely."

"Francis you would make a lousy soldier." Bill said, "You need to stay up late, sometimes all night in war, and right now this is war. This is war for survival."

"Maybe Francis is right." Zoey said putting a hand on Bill's shoulder, "We should probably get some rest."

Bill sighed and found a secure location being a walk in freezer. They turned off the cooling system and propped open the heavy metal door just wide enough so the door won't lock them in but not wide enough for an infected to get in and rested. Suddenly though, they were awoken by gunshots and shouts from somebody, or a group of people outside.

"Chains, more ammo!" one of the strangers shouted.

"More ammo, coming at you!" another stranger, who they assumed to be the one called Chains replied.

"There is too many of them!" a third stranger yelled over the roar of gunfire.

"Just keep shooting!" yelled a fourth.

Bill, Zoey, Francis and Louis swiftly got up and grabbed their guns and ran outside to see men in dirty, torn, blood stained suits with bullet proof vests over top and wearing masks wielding guns against a horde of infected. Soon Bill, Zoey, Francis and Louis joined the fray, standing back to back with the strangers fighting off the infected. Once the fray was over the two groups turned to face each other. The strangers had their masks off, sweat pouring from their faces. It only took Bill a few seconds for him to recognize them. He put his arm blocking Zoey from shaking hands with one of them and glared at them.

"I would have said you are pretty good for people who have never used a gun in your lives but that would make me a liar." Bill growled at them.

"What the hell are you talking about gramps?" one of the strangers replied.

Then it sank in, the strangers face became a look of great surprise. He turned to his team mates and they all nodded. Then the stranger turned back to Bill.

"You're that old fart from the elevator in Mercy Hospital!" the stranger exclaimed.

"Yeah, and you're those punks who made it so the first one of these monsters could get loose!" Bill shouted back.

"Look we needed the money and it was a twenty million dollar job. It isn't like your day when you could get a house for a nickel and a car for a dime." Another stranger said.

"Maybe you could have gotten a job, instead of causing the end of the world!" Bill said, practically foaming at the mouth in a way that would probably scare the infected.

This went on for several minutes, the strangers and Bill shouting so loud you would think the infected would be attracted to the noise like they are attracted to a car alarm. Eventually Zoey, Francis and Louis went back into where they were staying for the night and waited. It was hours before the shouting died down and Bill and the Strangers came inside. Bill sat down and explained that the Payday Crew as they were called made a good point. They were not going to keep all of the money, but donate most of it to charity. Bill said he admired their cause and decided to let them go with just a good cussing and a punch in the teeth for what they did.

After Bill was done talking Francis got up and smiled at the strangers like they were old friends. He took them to a different part of the building and took a case of beer from the freezer they were in and drank.

"You guys and I have a lot in common." Francis said taking a drink, "I am also a master criminal you see. I have this fool proof way of making the cops stop chasing you."

"Wait. Your name is Francis right?" Hoxton asked, "You wouldn't be the same Francis that goes by LadySlayer69 on would you?"

"Uh… Yeah that is me." Francis said, "Have you guys heard of me?"

"Yes! The whole deep web has heard of you!" Dallas shouted happily with mixed laughter, "You're the laughing stalk of the website!"

Francis decided that it was time for him to go back to bed, and they Payday Crew just kept laughing that way people do when they are just a little bit drunk. The next day however all eight of them went in the direction of the military chopper. For many days they walked, out of the city and through the suburbs, and along long winding country roads. The longer they walked it seemed, the stronger the stench of decay that hung in the air became. One day there were walking down yet another dirt road, but then they heard it, and then they saw it, a helicopter, then two, then three, all six flying a V-formation overhead. All eight of them ran up the hill and looked at what may just have been safety at last.

It looked like what used to be a farm house with a gas station further down the road, all around it were electric fences and barricades and military vehicles. In massive piles were dead infected, most of which looked charred as if they were burned after being killed. The small band of survivors smiled and cheered. A military jeep pulled up and four MPs got out and trained their guns on them.

"It is okay officers." Bill said slowly putting down his gun, "We are as human as they come."

"It is so good to see you guys!" Louis said, "I knew we would find rescue eventually."

"Huh… For once we are happy to see law enforcers." Dallas said tossing his mark-11 to the ground, "Right fellas?"

"You can say that again." Wolf said happily.

Once their weapons had been confiscated, they all were escorted to the base where they were tested for infection and then shown to the commander of the base. The commander sat behind a desk that seemed more like a kitchen table but was just being used as a desk. He smiled seeing the uniform Bill was wearing and sighed.

"So…" the commander began, "You eight managed to survive all of this? Congratulations."

"Thank you sir." Bill said smiling.

"You are welcome. But that does not fix the issue that your appearance has caused." The commander continued, "For you see, certain members of your party are guilty of crimes against humanity."

At this, the Payday Crew started to look really nervous and tried to think of some way to get out of this mess. Now, none of them knew this but before Wolf joined the Payday Crew he took a few karate classes so what he did next really shocked everybody. Wolf lunged at one of the MPs guarding the door and collapsed his wind pipe with one jab to the neck and stole his gun. Then he shot the other MP a couple times then turned and pointed the gun at the commander's head.

"We are not going to hang." Wolf said in a tone he rarely used, "Now, we are going for a walk, and if anybody does so much as raise their gun I'll blow your brains out through your ears. Got it?"

Bill, Francis, Zoey, and Louis looked shocked. Dallas, Hoxton and Chains looked even more shocked. The commander of the base looked quite terrified. Then the commander slowly stood up and went outside with Wolf with the rest of them staying inside. Wolf could be heard shouting from outside.

"Listen up!" Wolf screamed, "Me and my gang are now in charge now; and I will shoot each and every one of you fucks that has a problem with that. Understand?"

Everybody in the base stared motionlessly at Wolf, so shocked at what this one man just did that they dropped their weapons and one of them even asked Wolf for orders. Wolf shoved the commander to the ground and shot him in the back of the head several times, then turned back to the crowd of people.

"We have some demands. Give us what we want and we will leave and you can do whatever." Wolf shouted, "First, we need a vehicle capable of carrying eight people. Next, we need food and water. Next, we need medical supplies, all of your medical supplies. Finally, we need some duct-tape, an air horn, and a microphone that is hooked up to that speaker system you have over there."

Soon Wolf's demands were met, they were given food and water meant to last several days, a personnel carrier with a full tank of gas, several first aid kits, and the other strange items on the list. Once everybody was on the transport Wolf took the duct-tape and attached the microphone to the air horn and as they drove off he activated the air horn and the noise was so loud it could be heard in every direction for miles. The howling horde of infected could be heard coming, and the soldiers started rushing about turning on the electric fence and preparing to defend themselves.

"Well guys, I got us a ride and probably got us enough supplies to last until we find a truly safe place." Wolf said giving that psychotic smile he uses when he thinks he had a clever idea, "Plus I saved us from being hanged for crimes against humanity."

"Wolf I have one thing to say to you." Hoxton said, "That… was… awesome!"


	5. Wolf's Past and the Map to Safety

The ride in the jeep to an unknown location was silent. The only sound was of the tires crunching on the gravel and dirt under them as Dallas drove to wherever they were going. It was not until they saw a street sign that Zoey finally broke the silence.

"Route four…" She said, watching as the sign disappeared into the distance, "That eventually becomes Pennsylvania Avenue… They are taking us to Washington D.C."

"C'mon Zoey, we are still friends with these guys; not hostages." Francis said turning to Hoxton, "We aren't hostages, right?"

"You know?" Hoxton said, "You guys are lucky. You haven't had to fight like this until this mess got started. But us; we had to be like this all of our lives. Since we were just teenagers we had to cheat, steal, and lie to people just to survive."

"But why?" Zoey asked, "Didn't your parents take care of you?"

"My dad was a drunk fool." Hoxton replied. "He wasted all of my family's money on booze."

"My mom was a hooker…" Chains said, "I wasn't supposed to happen so she left me on the streets as soon as she thought I could survive."

"A cop killed both my parents." Dallas said, "Shot them both when they were just reaching for their drivers licenses."

At this point they all turned to Wolf. Wolf was a man of mystery to Bill, Zoey, Francis, and Louis and the rest of the Payday Crew. He was quiet, even tempered most of the time, paranoid, and possibly the most terrifying man they ever met. Wolf didn't seem to be paying attention to anything, just staring into space blankly, possibly in deep thought. But then Wolf seemed to come back to reality and sighed.

"Guys, remember when I said my family was in the Mafia?" Wolf asked.

"Yeah. Is that really what happened?" Hoxton answered.

"Not at all." Wolf said, "What really happened was I was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome when I was five. My parents couldn't stand it. They tried everything, they tried drugs, therapy, everything. But then the Sandy Hook incident happened when I was about sixteen or so and my parents could stand living with a potential mass murderer so they took me to an insane asylum claiming I was criminally insane and I was locked up there until I got let go fifteen years later when they finally found out my parents were lying."

They all stared at Wolf. Zoey was the first one to do something, that something being throwing her arms around Wolf in a hug. Wolf remained still and slowly put an arm around Zoey and resumed staring off into space. Leaving the rest of the group to discuss what they just heard.

"I always thought Wolf was a little bit off." Hoxton said.

"Yeah." Chains replied, "It does explain a lot."

"You know in my day we wouldn't use words like Autism and Aspergers to sugar coat the fact you are god damn insane." Bill grumbled, "If you do not remember because of his little outburst at the military base we got the whole US army is after us."

"Don't worry old timer." Dallas said. "Where we are going, it would be amazing if they dared to follow us."

They kept driving, after a while Route Four turned into Pennsylvania Avenue and Dallas pulled up to the White House front. The Payday Crew got out and told Bill, Zoey, Francis, and Louis to stay inside the car in case they need to have a quick getaway. The Payday Crew searched the White House, the president's bedroom, the oval office, every room until they finally found it. They came back out smiling and Hoxton was holding a folded up map.

"Is that it?" Bill asked, "A map? We had to go all the way to D.C. for a map?"

"Not just any map." Hoxton said, "This map is going to show us where safety is."

"How is it going to do that?" Francis asked.

"Bill should know this one." Dallas said, "The president and all the other important government officials all have access to a place called Doomsday Mountain. It is a bunker in the Rocky Mountains that is capable of surviving nuclear bombardment, but we think it can also make due as a zombie proof fortress."

Everybody looked at the map. Then everybody smiled. The Payday Crew got in the jeep and Dallas hopped into the driver's seat and stepped on the gas and blared the horn a couple times to get the attention of some infected. As the infected poured into the street in front of them they were just run over by the jeep. The infected behind them could not run fast enough to catch them.

"Woo!" Dallas shouted, "Kiss my hood ornament zom-bitches!"

Soon the survivors were out of D.C. and on the road to Colorado. A ruined American East Coast behind them, and probably a ruined American Mid-west in front of them. But that did not matter now. They had a plan, and hopefully unlike the heist at Mercy Hospital, a plan B was not necessary.


	6. Half Way on the Gate Way to the West

It had been days of nothing but driving, only stopping for gas when they absolutely had to. They were low on food and water. Luckily the medical supplies remained unused. It was late at night and everybody was asleep, except for Dallas and Wolf, who were taking turns driving, when they saw they saw the arch. They made it to the half-way point at the Mississippi River.

"Guys, wake up." Wolf said, "We need your help."

They all got out and looked around for supplies and a way across the river. Bill and Hoxton found a ferry boat that could take the jeep across. Dallas, Wolf, Chains, and Francis found ammo and other supplies. Louis found more fuel for the truck. But Zoey seemed to be preoccupied by something.

"Guys, do you see that?" Zoey asked pointing to what seemed to be a group of what appeared to be people on top of the arch.

"Yeah." Dallas replied, "What are those guys doing up there?"

The figures on top of the arch where in dark clothes and seemed to be wearing night-vision goggles. But they were not moving like a human, they moved in that sort of half-conscious staggering motion the infected did. Then one of them fell off of the arch and hit the ground, then got right back up and stared at Zoey and Dallas.

It is what looked like a cloaker. Dallas had seen many of them in his heisting days. They were a stealth unit armed with gas grenades, a Compact-5 SMG, and a stun baton. But now it was clearly infected. One of the lenses on the night-vision goggles was cracked and its gloves were off exposing hands with bumps and bruises all over them and sharp claws. The mouth piece of its mask was torn off to reveal a mouth with blackened gums and blood stained teeth. It growled at them and crouched low to the ground, poised to strike.

Zoey and Dallas instantly started running, the infected cloaker screamed and chased after them in leaps and bounds. Zoey and Dallas ran back to the jeep where everybody else was waiting for them.

"Guys, we have a problem." Zoey managed to say, exhausted from the running.

"Yeah, turns out the cops were here and they left some of their special units to get infected." Dallas wheezed.

They all looked in the direction Dallas and Zoey came from to see eight infected cloakers leaping after them. Hoxton, Bill, Francis, and Wolf grabbed guns and immediately opened fire. By the time all four of them had to reload four of the eight infected cloakers were dead. The remaining ones came lunging at the group of survivors with great sweeping motions of their arms. It was a lot more graceful than most infected. But all the same they were killed, and the survivors got back to work.

They got the jeep onto the ferry and started the engine. But as soon as the engine started an alarm sounded.

"What the hell?" Bill shouted over the noise, "Why is an alarm sounding?"

"Think about it." Dallas said, "If you had a virus so dangerous that if one infected got out of quarantine it would mean thousands of deaths, wouldn't you want a warning system in case one was about to escape?"

"They probably rigged all of the boats to sound the alarm if the engine started." Chains said.

They looked down the road leading to the ferry dock to see hundreds if not thousands of infected rushing towards them. Chains got out his Brenner 21 and opened fire, each sweep of bullets mowing down the common infected. But still the special infected charged at them. Tanks began lobbing rocks, spitters spat glob after glob of acidic slime at them.

"Everybody bail out!" Dallas shouted as a rock struck the boat leaving a hole in it.

Without hesitation they jumped off the boat and into the water. The boat and the jeep with all of their supplies sank. They swam to the opposite shore and climbed up the bulkheads of the other side, sputtering filthy river water.

"Roll call." Hoxton said, "Anybody who isn't dead say I"

"I" They all replied.

They looked at the shore they just left, and all of the infected standing there. Some of the common infected jumped into the river to go after them and instantly found themselves drowning. The survivors looked at the road that went forward out of the city and towards their destination.

"Hoxton." Dallas said, "Did you manage to save the map?"

"Yes." Hoxton replied.

"Well then, at least we have that." Bill said.

They all walked forward, without food, water, or weapons. They just had a map and just themselves with everything against them and little to no hope for survival. They decided to stop in an alley way and rest. All over the walls were messages from survivors that were probably long since dead, saying the infected can't swim and they were finally safe. But they knew, they wouldn't be safe until they reached Doomsday Mountain, and not a second sooner.


	7. Clanging Sheild, Roaring Bulldozer

After a few days of scavenging, the survivors managed to find some food and bottled water. Chains hotwired a car and Hoxton gathered several containers of gasoline. Still without weapons, they drove on towards Doomsday Mountain. Soon, the Western Plains expanded out infinitely before them. It seemed like it would be a boring but safe trip. They traveled along the same road for what felt like forever. Late at night they finally saw light ahead.

"Is that Doomsday Mountain?" Wolf asked.

"No. But we need to stop for supplies anyways." Hoxton replied as he drove towards the lights.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Bill said.

The town was small, but the streets were full of SWAT vans but no infected roamed the streets. Every so often as they looked for supplies they thought they saw an infected cloaker watching them just to look and see something dash out of sight.

"I don't like it here." Zoey said, "It almost seems like they are planning something."

"I know." Hoxton replied, "This place gives me the creeps."

As Hoxton said that, all eight of the survivors heard the clanging of metal and heavy footsteps coming from all around them. The Payday Crew felt like they heard the metal noise before. But they could not quite think of why. All around them the noise grew nearer and nearer. Then they saw what the noise was coming from. The noise was coming from several infected riot troopers. Their shields scraping against the ground, their fingers like vines that wrapped around the shield and their arm became strong and able to carry it all the time. They were covered in bullet proof armor and wore helmets that covered their faces. They slowly closed in on the survivors.

"What do we do now?" Bill asked, "We have no weapons."

"Run!" Wolf shouted, "Run and spread out before they box us in!"

The eight survivors ran and spread out in different directions searching for something to use as a weapon, the infected shield units shambling after them. Bill, Zoey, Francis and Louis stayed in one group while the Payday Crew spread out all over the town. Once they lost the shield units and met up back at the car, they showed what they could find. Dallas, Hoxton, Chains, and Wolf found some assault rifles in one of the SWAT vans. Bill found a pistol and a butterfly knife. Francis found a shotgun. Zoey found a set of twin pistols, and Louis found a machete and a Bronco 44 millimeter revolver.

"So." Hoxton said, "Seems as though we found some weapons. These should be able to keep the infected out of our hair until we get where we are going."

"Can we leave then?" Bill said, "This whole town is giving me a sick feeling in my stomach."

"Uh guys…" Zoey said nervously.

"Yes?" Wolf replied.

"What's that?" Zoey said pointing down the road.

They all turned to see a huge dark figure standing at an intersection growling at them. It was covered in bullet proof armor and was wearing a helmet with a shatter proof glass visor on it and under that it was wearing a white ski mask. The Payday Crew knew what it was, and once again became very nervous. All eight of survivors stared at it not moving and not saying anything.

"Bulldozer!" Wolf yelled as he raised his gun and began firing at what the rest of the survivors assumed as an infected SWAT unit of some sort.

When the first bullet impacted in the Bulldozer's chest it roared and sadly because the bulldozer's helmet had a built in microphone and speakers, the noise was amplified tenfold. The town echoed with the roar and soon the streets were flooded with infected.

"Holy shit! Why are there so many of them?" Wolf shouted over the noise of the screaming infected as he stopped shooting the bulldozer and began mowing down rows of common infected, "How many people could possibly have lived here?"

"Just shut up and keep shooting!" Bill yelled.

By this time the Bulldozer, summoning inhuman strength, had torn a street sign out of the ground and had begun swinging it at common infected that were in its way. Not running but strolling towards the survivors. Once the common infected were dealt with all of the survivors turned and opened fire on the bulldozer.

"It's not doing anything!" Francis yelled, "You sure you couldn't find a bazooka real quick?"

"Francis this is not the time for jokes!" Zoey said.

"Louis, give me your revolver!" Hoxton shouted, "I have an idea!"

"Here you go. Now don't lose it!" Louis said, handing Hoxton the revolver.

Hoxton ran up to the bulldozer and pressed the barrel of the revolver right up against the glass visor of the helmet. The bulldozer kept moving forward, shoving Hoxton out of the way and advancing on the other seven survivors.

"They say this gun can kill at tiger in one shot to the head." Hoxton said to himself, "Let's hope that visor isn't thicker than a tiger's pelt."

"Hey bulldozer!" Hoxton shouted. "They're going to have to glue your face back together… In Hell!"

The bulldozer whirled around to find itself staring down the barrel of the revolver that was pressed against the visor. Hoxton pulled the trigger and one solitary BANG pierced the night's silence. The bulldozer stood still for a long time, then fell over backwards dead. The visor shattered and shards of glass were buried in the Bulldozer's face, along with one solitary bullet hole in its forehead. Hoxton handed Louis the revolver and got back in the car without another word and then slowly the rest of the survivors got in and the drove off, getting closer and closer to their goal.


	8. Nuclear Countdown

It had been another day, and it once again was night. They were right on the edge of the desert and life was beginning to return to the landscape. They saw some search lights and decided to go there to look for food and fuel and water. What they came across was burned ruins. The only structures remaining where a few towers with search lights and an archway with a phrase engraved on it that marked the entrance to the walled in perimeter, _Work Keeps You Immune_.

"You know." Bill said, "The last time a phrase like that was used to welcome people to a walled in facility, it wasn't good."

"Yeah." Dallas replied, "Smells like something died in there. Or a lot of things."

"I know this does not look good." Louis said, "But we need supplies and they might be in there. Come on."

They all walked into the walled in area silently. It looked like somebody torched the place. Nothing was left not burned. It was almost like walking into a Nazi death camp and the ancient ruins of Pompeii all in one go. There was not a single infected or living thing in the base. The whole facility was frozen in time. Ash covered remains of people and infected telling a grim and bloody story of what was happening in the very rooms the survivors walked through. Then they heard laughter.

This was not sane laughter. This was the kind of laughter you heard before a mad man with a knife murdered you. The survivors opened a closet to find what appeared to be a Jockey, hunched over in a corner mumbling to itself, holding its knees close to its chin and rocking back and forth slowly. Surprisingly though it could talk and second it was not attacking the survivors on sight.

"Um…" Zoey said, "Are you alright sir?"

The Jockey leapt to its feet and stared at Zoey. Shaking in that schizophrenic way most jockeys do and looking absolutely horrified. Then it started looking at its own hands, as if it was trying to keep them from hurting people while he spoke.

"Ha ha… You shouldn't be here…" The jockey said, "This place is the first of many. But it is only for carriers and those who haven't turned yet."

"What is this place?" Zoey asked, getting on her knees and staying eye level with the jockey.

"Old Nazi trick! Ha ha." The jockey shouted, "Tell them if they work, making weapons, we will keep them immune. Ha ha! But if they show signs of turning, then we just take them out back and shoot them! Ha ha ha… Throw them on the piles with the rest!"

The Payday Crew looked at each other confused then finally decide to let Wolf talk to the jockey. Wolf told Zoey to let him have a try at getting something coherent out of the jockey and got his gun ready in case the jockey became hostile.

"Hey." Wolf said, "Do you know if there is any food or gasoline around here? We kind of need it to get somewhere safe."

"Safe?" the jockey replied, "Ha ha… He thinks there is somewhere safe! Nowhere is safe. Not after they launch them. Then the whole world be gone! Nowhere safe! Ha ha! Nowhere safe!"

"Launch what?" Wolf said, looking slightly concerned.

"Nukes!" the jockey shouted, "Boom! Ha ha… Paris, Moscow, D.C., Beijing, Tokyo and everywhere else! Gone. Ha ha! Nowhere safe! They launch tomorrow…"

"Is that what happened here?" Wolf asked, "They dropped a face melter?"

"No. No." the jockey replied, "I called in a napalm strike! Ha ha… Bunch of people turned at once and started wrecking up the place. I called them in and they burned everything! I hid in a freezer! Ha ha!"

That was all the jockey could get out before Louis shot him. Everybody looked at Louis in shock. Louis looked back at everybody like he did nothing that surprising.

"I don't mean to be negative." Louis said, "But that laugh was getting on my nerves."

They all kept looking around the base. Along with the charred corpses and singed machinery on the factory floor, there were rooms with incinerators, and behind the incinerator buildings were piles of corpses so high that they would qualify as small hills. Around the back of the walled off areas where mass graves. The most disturbing part of this being more than half of the bodies that were not burned beyond recognition were human, not the pale and deformed infected.

They paid their respects to the dead, they gathered what little was left that they could use and continued on their way, knowing if they do not reach Doomsday Mountain; there won't be anywhere else on Earth left to hide.


	9. Detonation

By their guess, they had about until noon to reach their goal before all of the bombs dropped. Ever since the camp, the trip was one of silent panic. But then they saw it, in the distance. They checked and double checked the map, and when they were sure Dallas put the pedal to the metal and the raced towards the front gate.

"Woo!" Wolf shouted, "We're gonna make it!"

"Wait." Bill said, "What are all of those tents and trailers outside the gates?"

Sure enough there were tents outside the gates to Doomsday Mountain. Hundreds of tents, maybe even thousands. There was an ocean of makeshift shelters clustered near the gates. The survivors saw movement and decided to slowly approach the camp sites very quietly.

To their surprise, the moving figures were human. When the survivors stopped their vehicle and stepped out with their hands above their heads and unarmed the heavily armored and gas mask wearing guards greeted them with surprised looks. One notified the commander and the other gave them a rather stern look.

"I am going to ask a few questions." The guard said, "If you fail to answer truthfully or answer incorrectly, I will shoot you on sight. If you get them all right and you are not lying I might consider letting you in."

The survivors all looked at each other and shrugged. They were immune, and they were not going to cause any trouble. They agreed to answer the guard's questions and smiled as genuinely as they could.

"Okay then." The guard said, "Have any of you encountered the infected?"

"We were at ground zero of the outbreak son." Bill said, "What do you think?"

The guard sighed in an annoyed fashion and got out a small index card and cleared his throat before continuing.

"Have any of you experienced headaches, nausea, high heart rate, or gastroenteritis since encountering the infected?" the guard asked.

"Uh…" Francis said, "I am not sure what that last one is but I think that is a solid no."

The guard seemed like he was about to ask yet another question when a loud siren pierced the quiet of the surrounding landscape. The survivors saw the massive blast doors open wide and dozens of soldiers and other official looking people ran into the bunker. The survivors followed the guard but just as they were about to get in the guard turned and raised his gun.

"If you follow any further I will shoot!" the guard shouted.

All of the survivors backed up and the gaping maw that was the blast doors closed shut. They ran as fast as they could back to the car and jumped in and drove as fast and far away as they could. Overhead they could see several missiles streaking across the sky.

"Where are they headed so we don't drive directly there?"

"Well, there are four of them." Bill said, "One for each of what I would assume to be the most densely populated areas on the US east coast."

"What areas would that be?" Dallas asked.

"I would imagine Fairview PA would be one of the targets." Bill replied, "Then probably New York City, D.C., and then maybe New Orleans."

Suddenly another volley of missiles shot across the sky. Then another, and another and another until there were almost twenty four missiles hurdling towards their targets.

"Wait." Francis said, "What is that one going for? Some place in Mexico?"

"No, but Roswell is in that direction." Dallas replied, "Maybe they want to make sure all of the towns in the immediate area are also blasted out of existence."

Then all of the survivors realized what that would mean if one of the missiles detonated only a few dozen miles away. But before they could react there was an earth shattering boom and a blinding light. When the light finally cleared there was the roar of thunder everywhere and the ominous mushroom cloud loomed over the landscape in the distance.

"Great, now we just need to survive all of the dust the blast must have kicked up!" Zoey shouted, pointing to the horizon.

Sure enough there was a wall of sand and ash rushing towards them so quickly that by the time they noticed it, it was already upon them. For seven brutal minutes sand and ash pelted the survivors and their vehicle, suffocating them to the point of unconsciousness. As the dust storm passed, the survivors lay on the ground nearly suffocated to death, knocked out due to lack of oxygen. All around them, the world burned in a series of nuclear blasts.


	10. A New Dead World

When the survivors finally regained consciousness, they found themselves coughing up sand and their car was on its side and half buried. The sky was dark and it was snowing. It wasn't all snow though, it was mainly ash.

"Damn…" Wolf said, "Did anybody get the license plate of that nuke that hit us?"

"Very funny." Francis growled.

The survivors got their car upright again and began driving. They went along the path they took on the way to Doomsday Mountain, seeing how much it has changed. Not much changed until they reached areas near the Mississippi River. There was nothing left. Charred bodies littered the streets and all of the bridges were out. The arch was gone, and there was not a single infected to be seen.

They traveled east until they reached the coastline. The beach was littered with bodies and graves, some of them were big enough to hold hundreds of people. For the first time in what seems like forever, the survivors stopped, put down their weapons, and just sat down and took it all in. There was no longer anywhere on earth that was safe. Soon, those who survived this disaster will be hunted down by the remaining infected and killed. Then the infected will die off, and the world will be empty. All of these thoughts started to go into Zoey's mind, along with two others. The death of both her parents at the beginning of all of this, and that the people responsible for this were sitting right next to her.

"This is all your fault!" she screamed, lunging at Hoxton and punching him in the face, "Because you wanted just a bit more cash on the mountain of stolen loot you had you made it so billions of people including my parents had to die!"

"Ow!" Hoxton yelled, "Look, we didn't know what was going to happen until it happened. Okay?"

"No! It is not okay!" Zoey screeched, "You need to pay for what you did!"

Then many things happened at once. Zoey grabbed her gun and aimed at Hoxton. Bill tackled her causing her aim to go off to the side. The Payday Crew grabbed their weapons and prepared for a shootout. Zoey pulled the trigger. The bullet went zooming past Hoxton and hit Chains right in the chest.

The Payday Crew looked at Chains as the bullet wound to his chest that was right where his heart was caused near instant death. Then they turned back on the Bill, Zoey, Louis, and Francis.

"Look bitch." Dallas growled, "Just cause you are the last girl on earth, doesn't make you important enough to not kill."

It was a standoff for several minutes before all seven of them saw a lot of movement coming from all of the beach motels and other buildings. It was infected, hundreds of them, if not thousands. They all looked very hungry.


	11. Rescue

The survivors looked at each other then to the massive horde of infected coming towards them then back at each other again.

"Look." Dallas said, "We can kill each other later. But for now let's make sure we all last that long."

"Agreed." Replied Bill.

But instead of the infected rushing towards them as a screaming bloody mass, the infected merely ignored them. Very slowly the horde shambled towards the ocean. The survivors knew something was not right. The infected looked weak.

Even the special infected seemed to be affected. Chargers dragged their massive arms behind them, Tanks clawed their way forward with just their arms. Hunters and infected Cloakers were reduced to a crawl instead of their limber hopping from place to place. Infected Bulldozers trudged in a heavy footed way as if their armor was becoming too heavy for them to support.

Those that did not drop dead or fall into a mass grave on the way to the water kneeled down and drank from the salty ocean. Soon there were only a few that made it to the water, and those that did eventually collapsed from exhaustion face in the water and slowly drowned.

"What the hell?" Francis said, "Why didn't they attack us?"

"Maybe the radiation in the air fucked with their heads or something." Hoxton replied.

"That damn virus suppressed their self-preservation instincts." Bill said, "When the urge for food and water became strong enough it was too late."

The survivors looked back at the city all of the infected just crawled out of to find it was now completely empty. There was now not a single living thing to be found. A few hour later however, when they were ready to give up and try to find somewhere to set up shelter and live until society was rebuilt they heard a fog horn.

"Hey guys." Hoxton said, "You know what that horn belongs to?"

"What?" Wolf replied.

"A cruise ship! With somebody on board!" Hoxton shouted as he ran down the street back towards the shore.

All of the survivors followed Hoxton and when they reached the shore again they saw ships. There was at least twenty or fifty vessels, from huge cruise ships and aircraft carriers, to small fishing boats and private yachts and everything in between. As the vessels dropped anchor and rowboats full of people came ashore and all seven survivors celebrated.

"Woo!" Wolf shouted, "We made it! We actually made it!"

"Ha ha! Yes!" Francis said.

The survivors were taken aboard and they and the other couple hundred people living on the collection of boats that happened to be at sea when the outbreak began lived to tell the tale of survival.

**THE END.**


End file.
